The combination-pairing a drug targeted against mutations in the BRAF gene with a second drug that targets another important signaling pathway-was discovered through one of the largest screens of cancer drug combinations conducted to date.
Findings from the study conducted at the MGH Cutaneous Biology Research center and Center for Molecular Therapeutics have been published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE."
Since around half the cases of malignant melanoma are driven by mutation in the BRAF gene, the team focused on combinations that might address intrinsic resistance to the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib.
-which means that mutations and expression changes in each line's genes have been documented-we should be able to identify in advance patients who will benefit from specific combinations.
whose mutation leads to the aggressive growth of a common and deadly type of lung cancer in humans.
"Sometimes there are hundreds of mutations in the genes of a patient's tumors, but you don't know
or byproducts,"says senior author Inder Verma, professor of genetics and holder of Salk's Irwin and Joan Jacobs Chair in Exemplary Life science."
"Two gene mutations in particular are known to spur the growth of human tumors: KRAS and p53. Though both genes have been studied heavily,
The researchers narrowed in on the 4, 700 genes in the human genome related to cellular signaling--specifically,
"With a mutation in KRAS, a tumor forms in 300 days. But without Epha2, the KRAS mutation leads to tumors in half the time, 120 to 150 days,"says Verma,
who is also an American Cancer Society Professor of Molecular biology.""This molecule Epha2 is having a huge effect on restraining cancer growth
when KRAS is mutated.""Mutated KRAS is a common culprit in approximately 10 to 20 percent of all cancers, particularly colon cancer and human lung cancer."
A 10-year national project called the Cancer Genome Atlas mapped the genomes of hundreds of patients for over 20 different cancers
and uncovered a number of related genetic mutations, though the role of these mutations has not been understood well in lung cancer (especially adenocarcinoma,
which makes up almost a quarter of all lung cancers). From the Cancer Genome Atlas data, the Salk team found that genetic alterations of Epha2 were detected in 54 out of 230 patients with adenocarcinoma.
The team also found, surprisingly, that the loss of Epha2 activated a pathway commonly associated with cancer (dubbed Hedgehog) that promotes tumor growth."
"Oddly, among human lung cancer patients with Epha2 mutations, around 8 percent of patients actually have high Epha2 expression.
In research that appeared today in Nature Genetics, a Weizmann Institute of Science team has revealed now one of the drivers of a particularly deadly subset of melanomas-one that is still seeing a rise in new cases.
Yardena Samuels and her team in the Institute's Molecular Cell biology Department were specifically searching for tumor suppressor genes in their database,
which consists of more than 500 melanoma genomes and exomes-protein-building sequences-making it the largest melanoma dataset to date.
Thus studying these genes is crucial in cancer biology.""The identification of targetable alterations in melanoma is need an urgent.
An in depth understanding of the functional effects of mutations in these genes is the first step toward revealing the underlying mechanism of melanoma growth,
Indeed, the melanoma genome sequences contained mutations in known tumor suppressor genes, but there was also a new gene that stood out in the team's search, named RASA2.
When they restored the production of the protein in melanoma cells that harbored RASA2 mutations,
However, loss or mutations in tumor suppressor genes like RASA2 also contribute to melanoma development;
. professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering and associate professor of surgery at U-M. The models were printed by Ann arbor-based Thingsmiths.
"In close collaboration with his TUM colleagues Johannes Buchner, professor of biotechnology and Sevil Weinkauf, professor of electron microscopy, Reif determined that the small heat shock protein uses a specific nonpolar beta-sheet structure pile in its center
MD, chairman of the Department of Stem Cell biology and Regenerative medicine at Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute.
"In the short to medium term, the researchers hope to use their method to make printed, disposable biosensors,
or sample preparation,"said Tomasz Tkaczyk, associate professor, Department of Bioengineering, Rice university, Houston, Texas."Many systems which work for point-of-care applications have quite expensive cartridges.
"Tkaczyk's co-authors on this research included Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Fellow of The Optical Society and a professor in Rice's Department of Bioengineering.
and turnover,"said senior author Jamey Marth, director of UCSB's Center for Nanomedicine and a professor in the campus's Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental biology."
#Gene on-off switch works like backpack strap A research team based in Houston's Texas Medical center has found that the proteins that turn genes on by forming loops in human chromosomes work like the sliding plastic adjusters on a grade-schooler
and allow researchers to reprogram cells by directly modifying the loops in genomes. The study,
is by the same team that published the first high-resolution 3-D maps showing how the human genome folds inside the nucleus of a cell.
Every human cell contains a genome, a linear string of DNA. Sequences of DNA bases spell out genes,
and coming into contact during genome folding. Last year, the team showed that it was possible to map the positions of these loops,
and the researchers created the first atlas of loops in the human genome. But the group couldn't explain how the loops were forming."
"said senior author Erez Lieberman Aiden, a geneticist and computer scientist with joint appointments at Baylor and Rice."
"The human genome contains more than 20,000 genes. In any given cell, only a fraction of these are active,
Aiden, who is also a senior investigator at Rice's Center for Theoretical Biological Physics,
"Aiden, assistant professor of genetics at Baylor and of computer science and computational and applied mathematics at Rice, said Sanborn
and high-performance computation to predict how a genome will fold. The team confirmed their predictions by making tiny modifications in a cell's genome
and showing that the mutations changed the folding pattern exactly as expected. Rao likened the result to a new form of genome surgery:
a procedure that can modify how a genome is folded by design and with extraordinary precision.""We found that changing even one letter in the genetic code was enough to modify the folding of millions of other letters,
"said Rao, a graduate student in the Aiden lab and at Stanford university.""What was stunning was that once we understood how the loops were forming,
the results of these changes became extremely predictable.""Sanborn said the discovery also explains a puzzling pattern that the team noticed
when it published its original atlas of loops.""DNA encodes information, and you can think of each DNA base pair as a letter and of certain sequences of letters as words,
and the genome is flexible at that scale, "said Sanborn.""If I were a protein,
The basic idea is that the tri-glide protein complex lands on the genome and pulls the strand from each side so that a loop forms in the middle--just like the loop someone might make
"Aiden said that one of the most astonishing implications of the new model is that loops on different chromosomes tend not to become entangled."
when two bits of the genome wiggled around and then met inside the cell nucleus, "Aiden said."
"But this process would lead to interweaving loops and highly entangled chromosomes. This is a big problem
if you need those chromosomes to separate again when the cell divides.""The tri-glide takes care of that,
or biological implant, engineers strive to make the material strong and defect-free. However, methods conventionally used to control the amount of defects in a material,
the researchers used multidisciplinary experimental approaches, ranging from structural to cellular biology.""It all started with an intuition we published in the journal Biochemistry in 2012,
"explains Gabriele Giachin, first author of the study and former SISSA Phd student (today at the European Synchrotron radiation Facility, ESRF, in Grenoble, France)."
"On that occasion, we hypothesized that the pathological genetic mutations present in the prion protein could affect copper coordination".
Then, drawing on the consolidated expertise in molecular and cellular biology available at the SISSA Laboratory of Prion Biology coordinated by Legname,
biological fluids containing bacteria and blood. Not only did the material repel all the liquid and show anti-biofouling behavior but the tungsten oxide actually made the steel stronger than steel without the coating.
Another avenue for application is functional 3d printing and microarray devices, especially in printing highly viscous and sticky biological and polymeric materials where friction and contamination are major obstacles.
U s. Navy spends tens of millions of dollars each year dealing with the ramifications of biofouling on hulls.
The Córdoba-based company Canvax Biotech has participated also in the development of the patent. A nontoxic drug One of the major advantages of the drug is that it is nontoxic.
which maintains the biological activity of its predecessor as an effective anti-tumor drug, but which can also be synthesized
In the last two months, the research project has received funding of over#124,930 from the public sector from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the firm Canvax Biotech SL and#20
and is likely to bring dramatic advances in several biological fields s
#Umbrella-shaped diamond nanostructures make efficient photon collectors Standard umbrellas come out when the sky turns dark,
or work involving biological observations. Individual nitrogen vacancy centers could essentially function as the basic units of quantum computers.
In terms of applications, the team's nanostructures may find use in highly sensitive magnetic sensors for making biological observations or within the computational science realm for quantum computing and cryptographic communications.
"explained corresponding author James Hamilton, Phd, professor of physiology and biophysics and research professor of medicine at BUSM."
genetics and disease diagnosis. But carrying out such analyses requires expensive lab equipment, making its application out of reach for many people who live in resource-limited places.
however, could make analysis of genetic material possible at a much lower cost. David Sinton and colleagues wanted to see
"said Ellington, professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences and member of the UT Center for Systems and Synthetic biology."
Professor Peter Waterhouse, a plant geneticist at QUT, discovered the gene in the ancient Australian native tobacco plant Nicotiana benthamiana, known as Pitjuri to indigenous Aboriginals tribes.
which for decades has been used by geneticists as a model plant upon which to test viruses and vaccines.
which for decades has been used by geneticists as a model plant upon which to test viruses and vaccines."
"By sequencing its genome and looking through historical records we have been able to determine that the original plant came from the Granites area near the Western australia and Northern territory border,
"What we found may have a big impact on future plant biotechnology research, "Dr Bally said."
"Professor Waterhouse, a molecular geneticist with QUT's Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities, said scientists could use this discovery to investigate other niche
Professor Waterhouse said the team's findings also have implications for future genetic research back here On earth."
Eye and Ear and Dr. Xue Han of the Biomedical engineering Department at Boston University. Other authors include Richie E. Kohman, Kevin Guerra, Angela Nocera, Shrestha Ramanlal, Armine H. Kocharyan and William T. Curry.
alginates and fibrins,"said Adam Feinberg, an associate professor of Materials science and engineering and Biomedical engineering at Carnegie mellon University.
Feinberg leads the Regenerative Biomaterials and Therapeutics Group, and the group's study was published in the October 23 issue of the journal Science Advances.
"As excellently demonstrated by Professor Feinberg's work in bioprinting, our CMU researchers continue to develop novel solutions like this for problems that can have a transformational effect on society,
"We should expect to see 3-D bioprinting continue to grow as an important tool for a large number of medical applications."
a graduate student in biomedical engineering at Carnegie mellon and lead author of the study.""The challenge with soft materials--think about something like Jello that we eat--is that they collapse under their own weight
which does not damage the delicate biological molecules or living cells that were bioprinted. As a next step, the group is working towards incorporating real heart cells into these 3-D printed tissue structures,
providing a scaffold to help form contractile muscle. Bioprinting is a growing field, but to date, most 3-D bioprinters have cost over $100,
000 and/or require specialized expertise to operate, limiting wider-spread adoption. Feinberg's group,
however, has been able to implement their technique on a range of consumer-level 3-D printers,
#Chinese claim world's first 3d blood vessel bioprinter One step further towards organ regeneration. A Chinese biotechnological company claims to be have created the world first 3d blood vessel bioprinter,
which could pave the way, in theory, to producing personalised, functional organs. One of the major stumbling blocks in tissue engineering is supplying artificial tissue with nutrients,
this bioprinter can finish a 10-centimeter blood vessel within two minutes. he core of the printer is the Biobrick,
the 3d bioprinter creates layered cell structures that can be cultivated to form tissues with physiological functions. he achievement here in producing a 3d blood vessel bioprinter is not just that we can print a blood vessel,
#Making life more resistant to stress A recent paper in Current Biology suggests that plants can be engineered against climate change, even drought.
When you consider that the human genome codes for over 600 different forms of just the E3 ligases alone,
whether the interaction of THZ radiation with biological organisms is safe. A theoretical study published by MIT in 2009 suggested that THZ waves may interfere with DNA via nonlinear instabilities,
Until sufficient experimental biological data is gathered, one cannot be entirely certain as to the mechanisms involved,
This is currently the strategy with gene therapy as well, to flood an area with many nonspecific actors to wash out the importance of their individual incompetence,
Hydrogels are useful in biology because theye much like us made mostly of hydro. Theye intrinsically safe for use with biology,
and biomedical engineers are even looking into using them as a bio-safe internal optical network.
The study was initiated in Japan by a group of geneticists at the Okayama University Institute of Plant Science
or retains it in the ear. he Japanese geneticists found that the cell walls were much thinner in brittle crop and much thicker in non-brittle crop.
and the natural spreading of the species. After the Japanese geneticists had proved the gene formation was linked to the brittle characteristic,
despite consistent human genetics, suggesting a pivotal role for an environmental factor, "commented Chassaing.""Food interacts intimately with the microbiota
which can activate pro-inflammatory gene expression by the immune system, said Chassaing and colleagues. These changes in bacterial expression triggered chronic colitis in mice genetically prone to this disorder,
which allows biological systems to survive in a large variety of environments, said co-author Luzius Brodbeck. hrough evolutionary adaptation some animals changed their morphologies to live on land instead of under water,
and Fumiya Iida from the Department of Engineering, Cambridge university in the UK and Simon Hauser of Biorobotics Laboratory, EPFLCOLE Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland.
The key for a meaningful design optimization is to build variations of physical machines through the course of the evolutionary process.
The bioplastic PLA is derived from renewable resources, including the sugar in maize and sugarcane. Fermentation turns the sugar into lactic acid
According to co-author Professor Bert Sels of hape-selective zeolite catalysis for bioplastics productionthe production process for PLA is expensive because of the intermediary steps."
and biotechnology can join forces.""Professor Sels, is of KU Leuven Faculty of Bioscience Engineering (Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis),
and Dr Dusselier, KU Leuven Faculty of Bioscience Engineering (Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis) and California Institute of technology i
#New half-fat soft cheese solution Arla Foods Ingredients has developed a whey protein solution that enables dairies to produce low-fat soft ripened cheeses that taste as good as the full-fat versions.
These techs include things like 3d printing, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, infinite computing, networks, sensors, nanotechnology, and virtual realitynd is essentially a list of the most disruptive technologies ever invented.
Essentially, even though exponential technologies put the power of the gods (especially if wee talking AI or synthetic biology) into the hands of mere mortals,
Imagine a diabetics biochip detecting blood glucose levels within personalized parameters, and then initiating appropriate, immediate,
Along with wearables, biosensors are advancing to the point at which within the next five years, they will not only become incorporated into clothing (Athos, Under Armour Under Armour, etc.
Imagine a diabetics biochip detecting blood glucose levels within personalized parameters, and then initiating appropriate, immediate,
a biophysicist and lecturer at the University of Newcastle and a co-author of the study. ather,
director of the Biorobotics Laboratory at Seoul National University, told Live Science.""Natural organisms give a lot of inspiration to engineers."
#quid teethplastic self-heals with water Scientists derived the genetic code of squid ring teeth to develop a polymer that self-heals with a single drop of water.
the researchers used biotechnology to create the proteins in bacteria. The polymer can then either be molded using heat
says Martin Yarmush, professor of biomedical engineering at Rutgers and Ghodbane adviser. Until now, animal research on central nervous system disorders, such as spinal cord injury and Parkinson disease, has been limited
He is aiming to improve the acoustic imaging method for potential use in biological research or medicine
professor of structural bioengineering, who studies bacterial microcompartments (BMCS), to build the protein. BMCS are self-assembling cellular organs that perform myriad metabolic functions,
BMCS have enormous potential for bioengineering, Kerfeld says. ee showed that we can greatly simplify the construction of these factories.
Those with mutations in polycystic kidney disease genes formed balloon-like, fluid-filled sacks, called cysts, from kidney tubules.
The organoids with mutations in podocalyxin, a gene linked to glomerulonephritis, lost connections between filtering cells. utation of a single gene results in changes kidney structures associated with human disease,
Genetically matched kidney organoids without disease-linked mutations showed no signs of either disease, Freedman says.
RISPR can be used to correct gene mutations, explained Freedman. ur findings suggest that gene correction using CRISPR may be a promising therapeutic strategy.
and a 3d printer, bioengineers and surgeons have created an implant with an intricate network of blood vessels.
A research team led by Jordan Miller, assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice university, and Pavan Atluri, assistant professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted the study.
says lead author Jian Feng, professor in the department of physiology and biophysics in the University at Buffalo School of medicine and Biomedical sciences.
and the selective uptake of serotonin. he researchers found that they could produce induced serotonergic neurons from fibroblasts by introducing four genes that control the development of serotonin neurons. hese genes change how the human genome,
This could lead to the production of new drugs and next-generation biomaterials and to a better understanding of how ribosomes function.
Called Ribo-T, the artificial ribosome was created in the laboratories of Michael Jewett, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering in the Northwestern University Mccormick School of engineering and Applied science
and Alexander Mankin, director of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy Center for Biomolecular Sciences.
or producing designer therapeuticsnd, eventually perhaps even non-biological polymers. No one has developed ever something of this nature. e felt like there was a smallery smallhance Ribo-T could work,
Jewett says. ur new protein-making factory holds promise to expand the genetic code in a unique and transformative way, providing exciting opportunities for synthetic biology and biomolecular engineering,
says senior author Christina Smolke, an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford university. Now, though the output is smallt would take 4,
about one third of the world supply has shifted to bioreactors. The artemisinin experiments proved that yeast biosynthesis was involved possible,
but adding only six genes. The Stanford team had to engineer 23 genes into yeast to create their cellular assembly line for hydrocodone. his is complicated the most chemical synthesis ever engineered in yeast,
a Phd student in chemistry and a member of Smolke team. heye the action heroes of biology. o get the yeast assembly line going,
which enzyme reconfigures reticuline but even after the bioengineers added this enzyme into their microbial factory,
with proper controls against abuse, allow bioreactors to be located where they are needed, she says. In addition to bioengineering yeast to convert sugar into hydrocodone,
"said Hannele Ruohola-Baker, Ph d.,University of Washington professor of biochemistry and senior author of the paper."
which plays a key role in controlling gene expression and, thereby helps regulate the cell's development, growth and function."
"When I showed the results to our clinical geneticists, initially they were floored, "said Stephen Scherer, Ph d.,principal investigator on the current study and Director of The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) at Sickkids."
"In light of the findings, we suggest that genomic analyses be integrated into the standard of practice for diagnostic assessment of cerebral palsy."
"CNVS are structural alterations to an individual genome that lead to deletion, additions, or some reorganization of gene sequences that produces aberrant genetic products.
Typically, CNVS occur in less than 1%of the general population but are increasingly being looked at risk factors,
This study will provide the impetus to make genetic testing a standard part of the comprehensive assessment of the child with cerebral palsy."
"When I showed the results to our clinical geneticists, initially they were floored, "said Dr. Scherer."
"In light of the findings, we suggest that genomic analyses be integrated into the standard of practice for diagnostic assessment of cerebral palsy."
"CNVS are structural alterations to an individual genome that lead to deletion, additions, or some reorganization of gene sequences that produces aberrant genetic products.
This study will provide the impetus to make genetic testing a standard part of the comprehensive assessment of the child with cerebral palsy. e
"said Dmitri Kudryashov, Ph d.,assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at OSU and senior author of the study."
"Therefore, ACD effectively hijacks formin by converting actin molecules into new potent poisons,"said co-corresponding author Elena Kudryashova, Ph d.,a research scientist in chemistry and biochemistry at OSU.
"said first author David Heisler, a graduate student in the Ohio State Biochemistry Program.""This establishes an entirely new toxicity mechanism. e
. Friedman, M d.,Ph d.,at Rockefeller University and the TSRI groups of Ian A. Wilson and Patrick R. Griffin, appears in Chemistry and Biology.
In one proof-of-principle demonstration, the team edited the genetic code of a standard human antibody to replace one of its target-grappling elements structure that normally would bind to a virus
and he suspected that improving the technique's spatial resolution would go a long way toward increasing its use by biologists.
The ability to precisely tune enzymatic reactions with small biomolecules holds enormous potential for industrial manufacturing, analytical science,
"explained senior author Shohei Koide, Ph d.,professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the Chicago."
"The findings from this study were published recently in Nature Chemical Biology through an article entitled onobody-mediated alteration of enzyme specificity."
and are already in use as a platform for other applications by biotechnology companies. The University of Chicago team is currently investigating other enzymes that might benefit from monobody technology,
"explained senior author M. Laura Feltri, M d.,professor of biochemistry and neurology in the Jacobs School of medicine and Biomedical sciences at UB."
#Protein Based Sensors Expand Synthetic biology Repertoire Engineering proteins to detect specific DNA, RNA, or peptide sequences may not be a new idea,
but a new approach taken by synthetic biology engineers at the Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) is as interesting as it is elegant.
senior author James Collins, Ph d.,professor of medical engineering and science in MIT's Department of Biological engineering and Institute of Medical Engineering and Science (IMES)."
whether genetic material has been delivered successfully to cells that they are trying to alter genetically. Cells that did not receive the new gene could be induced to undergo cell death
since completing his doctorate in molecular biology in 1997.""During my post-doc at the Max-Planck Institute in Germany,
Indeed, bioinformatic analysis led him to predict the existence of a mysterious protein: COCO, a"recombinational"human molecule that is normally expressed within photoreceptors during their development.
offering the possibility of directly testing potential avenues for therapy on the patient's own tissues. ur work, the Development article concluded, rovides a unique platform to produce human cones for developmental, biochemical,
a collaborative team of researchers from the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN), University of Copenhagen, University of British columbia (UBC), Vancouver Coastal Health and the BC Cancer Agency, found that the malaria protein,
and lung cancers,"explained co-author Nhan Tran, Ph d.,associate professor in TGEN's Cancer and Cell biology Division."
"Scientists have spent decades trying to find biochemical similarities between placenta tissue and cancer, but we just didn't have the technology to find it,"noted project leader Mads Daugaard, Ph d.,assistant professor of urologic science at UBC and a senior research scientist at the Vancouver Prostate Centre, part of the Vancouver Coastal
"There is some irony that a disease as destructive as malaria might be exploited to treat another dreaded disease,"stated lead author Ali Salanti, Ph d.,professor of immunology and microbiology in the Centre for Medical Parasitology, at the University
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